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West Virginia’s Byrd Supports Obama

BILLINGS, Mont. – Less than a week after his state went for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton by 41 points, Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, endorsed Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Byrd, the longest-serving member of the Senate, had purposefully steered clear of showing a preference in the presidential nominating battle between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton ahead of his state’s primary last Tuesday. But today he announced his support for Mr. Obama, saying, “The stakes this November could not be higher.”

“After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situation in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will cast my vote for Senator Barack Obama for President,” Mr. Byrd said in a statement. “Both Senators Clinton and Obama are extraordinary individuals, whose integrity, honor, love for this country and strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect.”
“I believe Barack Obama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this challenging time in history,” added Mr. Byrd, who voted against giving President Bush the authorization to go to war in Iraq in 2002 and has been a vociferous opponent of the war. “Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support.”

Two words worth noting in that statement: “Humble Christian.” In the post-mortem of his overwhelming defeat, aides to Mr. Obama suspect many voters believed the misdirected rumors that he was Muslim.

So will the sentiment of Mr. Byrd -– an iconic figure in West Virginia who has served in the Senate since 1958, before Mr. Obama was born -– help allay concerns of some Democrats in a general election? Can Mr. Obama still be competitive in states that he lost by significant margins to Mrs. Clinton?

Above all, that is the question on the minds of Democrats this week.

With the endorsement, Mr. Byrd joins West Virginia’s other senator, John D. Rockefeller IV, in supporting Mr. Obama.

The endorsement also makes three more superdelegates for Mr. Obama on Monday, on the eve of the primaries in Kentucky and Oregon. The Kansas Democratic Party chairman, Larry Gates, and the Washington State Democratic Party chairman, Dwight Pelz, also announced their support for Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Clinton has been courting Mr. Byrd for some time, and openly did so on Mother’s Day, when she was campaigning in West Virginia in advance of its primary.

She told a small gathering that when she first began serving in the Senate, in 2001, her mother used to watch CSpan to try to catch a glimpse of her daughter. And during her TV-watching, she became familiar with Mr. Byrd, regarded by his colleagues as the chief expert on Senate history and procedure.

Mrs. Clinton said that her mother came to admire Mr. Byrd and hoped one day to meet him. Eventually she brought her mother to lunch with Mr. Byrd and they had a fine time.

But apparently the personal connection was not strong enough to sway Mr. Byrd to her side, as her hopes dwindle for the nomination.

Mr. Byrd’s endorsement of Mr. Obama is all the more interesting considering that as the senator once opposed integrating the military, filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act and, as a young man, was briefly a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He has frequently expressed regret for his past actions.

Senator Byrd is a shining examaple of a person who has turned away from hatred, bigotry, and racial prejudice in this country. He has gone from ex-Ku Klux Klansman from a state filled with racial prejudice to enlighted Senior Democratic in the United States Senate, to being a key supporter of Senator Barack Obama. If Senator Byrd can make this admirable and commendable transformation in his own life, Hillary Clinton’s aging, blue collar, white, racially prejudiced supporters should be able to follow his example and do the same.

Dear Senator Byrd,
You have my gratitude. Thank you for supporting my candidate and bringing Senator Obama that much closer to securing the nomination.
Mr. Gore, come on over!!
Yes we can!!!! Be a part of this nation changing for the good of our country.
Obama Voter

This is powerful symbolic endorsement. If a honorable man like Byrd who was once a former KKK member and can understand that change can and will happen hopefully Clinton supporters can see the same light.
obama
CHANGE 08/12

Well we can see what is happening here. The elite are pushing Hillary out before the election is finished. Soon they will have pushed hard enough that not all states and all voters would have voted before Obama becomes the nominee. That alone will cause a serious train wreck for the democrats.

Byrd supports the democratic party period, he had some nice words for Obama but clearly did not say he was the best candidate in this race, which time and time again is the case with these supers that are endorsing, because Obama is leading they are casting their support for him. Most do not believe he is the best candidate, they do beleive he has run a better campaign, but far from thinking he is the best candidate..

So much for supers voting according to the primary results. This is going to get very interesting. I think that now I really believe in the superdelegate role. It shows that you can sway the electorate with attack ads and by appealing to bias and fear, and not profit from it.

This is good. Not sure if Byrd’s endorsement will really carry weight in West Virginia — it went for Bush in 2000 and 2004. But with WV back in the Democratic fold, a Democratic win in November becomes more possible.

A lot of vitriol was heaped on WV for going for Clinton by such a wide margin – I think many people forgot that WV seceeded from Virginia during the civil war to remain in the union.

I am hoping that many people backed Clinton because they still didn’t know Obama well and worry about his lack of experience (something I worry about to at times) and that once they get a chance to know his true life story — not the misinformation they have heard — they will embrace him.

With Senator Robert C. Byrd and fd Senator John Edwards endorsements, in addition to Edwards endorsement speech, I think this just about wraps it up for our “humble Christian ”….Mr Obama.
Nice that skin color or religion didn’t matter for Senator Robert C. Byrd.

Another story could frame this endorsement in a quite unexpected, yet endearing historical light.

A white Senator from West Virginia, who in his youth flirted with the Ku Klux Klan, and doubtless saw from the dominant ‘white’ perspective the persecution of African-Americans, gets the opportunity to embrace, and help elect the first black president.

A man who was not alive when this Senator first took office, but who, in the span of a single lifetime, represents a great leap forward in the struggle for equality.

And while there is certainly a great distance yet to cover, we should never be so cynical as to scoff at the value of a national symbol. Even a person who stands for, and therefore stands to symbolize hope.

Hillary could learn a lesson here from Robert Byrd about standing up for what is right rather than what is politically advantageous. It took great courage for Byrd to take this stand because it will certainly anger many of his supporters.

If Hillary knew the value of doing the right thing, rather than the pandering thing she wouldn’t have pushed her ludicrous gas tax proposal. She also wouldn’t have tried to pit working class whites against blacks and college educated professionals. She also might have been the nominee because people wouldn’t have seen her for the unethical, shameful panderer that she is.

Byrd’s endorsement makes it at least 3 superdelegates so far today. It is time for all Democrats to throw their full support to the presumptive nominee, Barack Obama. As Byrd rightly stated, the stakes are far too high not to.

Bravo! I too admired this tenatious man when dealing with the Iraq issue and telling all it was wrong and bad judgment. As stated by every candidate in this democratic nomination process, superdelegates have a right to choose whomever they see fit to lead the Presidency of the United States, and Senator Byrd chose Senator Obama. Bravo!

We have come a long way when a former Klansman can support a black candidate for President.

Senator Byrd showed great integrity and leadership in fighting in the Senate in 2002 against our invasion of Iraq and Senator Clinton’s support for the war at the same time may have proven to be the difference tilting in his support to Senator Obama, who also publicly opposed the war.

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